Friday, September 05, 2008

My previous post on the matter of standing on one leg - or, more correctly, foot - was frivolous and an affront to the great explorer C.M.Doughty, author of Travels in Arabia Deserta, who used one foot standing as a form of exercise and self-discipline. Now the inconceivable Dave Lull brings me further evidence of the seriousness of this matter. Standing on one foot improves your sleep. Rigorous testing by Seth seems to establish this remarkable finding beyond, as Doughty would have said, peradventure. AA (After Arthur) insomnia is no longer a problem for me, but, if it is for you, try Seth.

Sir: For the past few weeks, I have been obliged to stand on only one leg. While I observe that my lashings of the camel-drivers have increased by several hundred percent, which they assure me is good for the circulation, alas it has made no difference to my usual habits of repose. I therefore conclude that standing on one leg is efficacious only if you have two working legs to begin with. If anyone out there would care to break both their legs in order to test whether insomnia can be relieved by complete leglessness now is your opportunity to report. I understand that February to March is the preferred season for crossing the Empty Quarter on crutches, the sand being more compacted at that time.

In Tai Chi one is generally supposed to be single-weighted, i.e. most of the weight on one leg. i saw a photo of some old tai chi master standing to attention with his family or students, and you can see he's got most of his weight on one leg. It enables rapid kick-off, transition of energy & weight when you shift to the other leg, dynamic balancing if you like.

A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.